


Can't Help Herself

by Cookies_and_Chaos



Category: Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
Genre: Fluff, Gen, silly fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28155912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookies_and_Chaos/pseuds/Cookies_and_Chaos
Summary: When Irene is stuck on a Maths problem, the whole form knows about it. Written for 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020, Day 10, "Ten Important Thoughts"
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	Can't Help Herself

"Oh, it's no use," Irene said, throwing her prep work down and sending Belinda's pencils skittering across the tabletop.

"What's no use?" Belinda scrambled to grab her pencils before they fell off the edge of the table, smiling gratefully at Mary-Lou who pushed the ones that had made it all the way over to where she was working back.

"I can't _concentrate_ on this. Who cares about French when we still haven't solved that Maths problem Miss Williams set?" Irene slumped down in her chair.

"You are joking, right?" Alicia asked, as always half listening to everything that was going on around her.

"Aren't you desperate to find out the solution? It's been on my mind all afternoon, I simply can't think properly about anything else."

Belinda shook her head with a smile and blunted the end of one of her pencils on the spare paper beside her. She had thought Irene had been quieter than usual but since the quiet had meant she had been able to get on with her latest piece of art without distraction, she hadn't been about to complain.

"Why would it even matter? Maybe it's impossible?" Alicia suggested.

"No, it wasn't complicated enough for that. Besides, even many of Hilbert's problems have been proven to be solvable, despite what some people thought." Irene sighed and leant her chin on her hand, seemingly oblivious to the way the rest of the form were sharing amused glances with one another.

"Do buck up, Irene," Belinda said, unable to bear the miserable look on Irene's face. "You know what they say, the solution often comes when you're concentrating on something else."

"But I can't focus on anything else," Irene lamented.

"Would you like the maths puzzle book I got for Christmas?" Darrell asked, looking away from the chess game she was playing with Sally.

"Someone bought _you_ a maths book?" Alicia chuckled.

"My Grandfather seems to think that the solution to a hatred of maths is more maths," Darrell replied, "it's on the shelf just behind Mary-Lou. I was hoping someone would take it..."

Mary-Lou quickly located the book and slid it across the table to Belinda. She handed it to Irene who looked at her so sadly that Belinda could barely keep a straight face.

"Go on, give it a try. Maybe it'll take your mind off things, at any rate."

Irene sighed and accepted the puzzle book, then bowed her head over it as she proceeded to race through each of the puzzles, her lips moving in silent words as she solved each problem. Belinda returned to her art whilst the others all slowly went back to what they had been doing before. A quiet murmur settled over the common room for a good five minutes before the peace was, once again, completely shattered.

"Nineteen!" Irene leapt up from her chair, sending it clattering to the floor with the force of her movement. "The answer's nineteen! Where's my Maths book?"

"In the classroom where you left it?" Alicia suggested, grinning over the top of the magazine that she was reading.

"Wizard! You're a genius, Belinda!" Irene kissed her on the top of the head and raced to the door, flinging the puzzle book as she ran. "Thanks, Darrell!"

The puzzle book skittered across the chessboard, sending all of the pieces flying, and came to a rest on Darrell's lap as the door slammed shut behind Irene. Belinda snorted and shook her head. There truly was never a dull day where their resident genius was concerned...


End file.
